Most people don't remember or know what happened in the mid 1980's. The City of Chicago led by former Mayor Washington wanted to build a baseball stadium for the White Sox in the South Loop at Roosevelt and Clark. The White Sox and the city could not agree on the finances. The White Sox would of payed more in leasing the stadium than what they are paying now at the Cell. The city would of also received the parking and concessions money. The White Sox get the concessions and parking money at the Cell. I don't know what the other baseball teams pay or receive in terms of leasing, parking and concessions money in their downtown ballparks, (St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Minnesota) but I wish the White Sox could of worked something out with the City Of Chicago and had that stadium built at Clark and Roosevelt in the South Loop. The entire perception of the White Sox franchise would of been different if they were playing in the South Loop.

The stadium concept for the White Sox in the South Loop in the mid 80s would have been a White Elephant within a decade. It would have been the Pontiac Silverdome of baseball stadiums. The idea of "Camden Yards in Chicago" didn't exist in the early-to-mid 80s. The stadium on the table in the mid 80s was some fugly dual-purpose domed stadium to be shared by the Sox and the Bears. So, yes, the perception would have been different...probably for the worse.